Man’s sexual assault trial opens

Three young women didn’t report separate allegations of sexual assault against the same man because no assault occurred, the defense attorney argued Wednesday.

Corina Curry

Three young women didn’t report separate allegations of sexual assault against the same man because no assault occurred, the defense attorney argued Wednesday.

Not so, prosecutors countered. The young women didn’t come forward because they were confused and frightened by the experience.

Attorneys made their opening statements to jurors in the case against 22-year-old Ryan Gaertner on Wednesday night.

Gaertner, a former student and football player at Rockford Christian High School and graduate of Guilford High School, is on trial for the criminal sexual assault of the three women — two of whom were fellow students at Rockford Christian. The third he met through his church, Temple Baptist.

‘Looks can be deceiving’

He is accused of forcing all three to have sex with him.

“Looks can be deceiving. We are taught at a young age not to judge a book by its cover,” Winnebago County Assistant State’s Attorney Geannette Wittendorf said. “This defendant is an example of why we learn that. ... (He) was 17 at the time. He’s good-looking, young. He’s on the football team. He’s everything you think you’d want your daughter to date.”

Wittendorf said Gaertner, in separate incidents, lured the two then 15-year-olds to his grandfather’s house in Rockford by inviting them to dinner, then telling them forgot something at home. He held them down and had sex with them, she said.

The third assault, against the then 19-year-old, also took place at Gaertner’s grandfather’s house, Wittendorf said.

“He told her, ‘This is going to hurt,’ ” she said. “It hurt for all these girls. It was confusing, frightening and painful.”

But Gaertner’s attorney, Dan Cain, told a different story, one about two young girls “who got together and made up a story about Ryan Gaertner.”

Their stories can’t be believed, he argued, because one of the 15-year-olds remained friends with Gaertner after the alleged assault. And the 19-year-old didn’t come forward with her allegations until three years later, he said.

‘Zero’ physical evidence

There is no physical evidence to support the allegations, he told the jury.

“The physical evidence in this case can be summed up in one word: zero,” Cain said. “You’d think there’d be a bruise or a torn garment or something to show the police.”

The then 15-year-old girls came forward with their allegations in June 2003 because one of the girls’ parents found a diary in which the girl wrote about what happened, Wittendorf said. The parents took the matter to Temple Baptist Church and then the police.

The then 19-year-old also kept a diary, Cain said, and it contains no mention of Gaertner sexually assaulting her.

“There’s no entry that that occurred — nothing that he used her or assaulted her in any regard,” Cain said. “The reason you won’t find that is because it didn’t happen.”

If found guilty of criminal sexual assault against the three women, Gaertner faces a maximum punishment of 45 years in prison.

Testimony in the case is expected to begin at 8:30 a.m. today in the Winnebago County Courthouse.

Staff writer Corina Curry can be reached at 815-987-1395 or ccurry@rrstar.com.

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